354 lines
16 KiB
XML
354 lines
16 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!--
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Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
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contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
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this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
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The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
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(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
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the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
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http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
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Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
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distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
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WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
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See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
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limitations under the License.
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-->
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<!DOCTYPE document [
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<!ENTITY project SYSTEM "project.xml">
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]>
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<document url="deployer-howto.html">
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&project;
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<properties>
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<author>Allistair Crossley</author>
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<title>Tomcat Web Application Deployment</title>
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</properties>
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<body>
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<section name="Table of Contents">
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<toc/>
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</section>
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<section name="Introduction">
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<p>
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Deployment is the term used for the process of installing a web
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application (either a 3rd party WAR or your own custom web application)
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into the Tomcat server.
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</p>
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<p>
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Web application deployment may be accomplished in a number of ways
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within the Tomcat server.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Statically; the web application is setup before Tomcat is started</li>
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<li>
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Dynamically; by directly manipulating already deployed web
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applications (relying on <em>auto-deployment</em>
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feature) or remotely by using the Tomcat Manager web
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application
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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The <a href="manager-howto.html">Tomcat Manager</a> is a web
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application that can be used interactively (via HTML GUI) or
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programmatically (via URL-based API) to deploy and manage web
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applications.
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</p>
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<p>
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There are a number of ways to perform deployment that rely on
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the Manager web application. Apache Tomcat provides tasks
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for Apache Ant build tool.
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<a href="https://tomcat.apache.org/maven-plugin.html">Apache Tomcat Maven Plugin</a>
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project provides integration with Apache Maven.
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There is also a tool called the Client Deployer, which can be
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used from a command line and provides additional functionality
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such as compiling and validating web applications as well as
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packaging web application into web application resource (WAR)
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files.
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</p>
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</section>
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<section name="Installation">
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<p>
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There is no installation required for static deployment of web
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applications as this is provided out of the box by Tomcat. Nor is any
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installation required for deployment functions with the Tomcat Manager,
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although some configuration is required as detailed in the
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<a href="manager-howto.html">Tomcat Manager manual</a>.
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An installation is however required if you wish
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to use the Tomcat Client Deployer (TCD).
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</p>
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<p>
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The TCD is not packaged with the Tomcat core
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distribution, and must therefore be downloaded separately from
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the Downloads area. The download is usually labelled
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<i>apache-tomcat-<version-major-minor/>.x-deployer</i>.
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</p>
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<p>
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TCD has prerequisites of Apache Ant 1.6.2+ and a Java installation.
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Your environment should define an ANT_HOME environment value pointing to
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the root of your Ant installation, and a JAVA_HOME value pointing to
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your Java installation. Additionally, you should ensure Ant's ant
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command, and the Java javac compiler command run from the command shell
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that your operating system provides.
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Download the TCD distribution</li>
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<li>
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The TCD package need not be extracted into any existing Tomcat
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installation, it can be extracted to any location.
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</li>
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<li>Read Using the <a href="#Deploying_using_the_Client_Deployer_Package">
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Tomcat Client Deployer</a></li>
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</ol>
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</section>
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<section name="A word on Contexts">
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<p>
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In talking about deployment of web applications, the concept of a
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<i>Context</i> is required to be understood. A Context is what Tomcat
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calls a web application.
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</p>
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<p>
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In order to configure a Context within Tomcat a <i>Context Descriptor</i>
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is required. A Context Descriptor is simply an XML file that contains
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Tomcat related configuration for a Context, e.g naming resources or
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session manager configuration. In earlier versions of
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Tomcat the content of a Context Descriptor configuration was often stored within
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Tomcat's primary configuration file <i>server.xml</i> but this is now
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discouraged (although it currently still works).
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</p>
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<p>
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Context Descriptors not only help Tomcat to know how to configure
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Contexts but other tools such as the Tomcat Manager and TCD often use
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these Context Descriptors to perform their roles properly.
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</p>
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<p>
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The locations for Context Descriptors are:
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>$CATALINA_BASE/conf/[enginename]/[hostname]/[webappname].xml</li>
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<li>$CATALINA_BASE/webapps/[webappname]/META-INF/context.xml</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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Files in (1) are named [webappname].xml but files in (2) are named
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context.xml. If a Context Descriptor is not provided for a Context,
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Tomcat configures the Context using default values.
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</p>
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</section>
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<section name="Deployment on Tomcat startup">
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<p>
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If you are not interested in using the Tomcat Manager, or TCD,
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then you'll need to deploy your web applications
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statically to Tomcat, followed by a Tomcat startup. The location you
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deploy web applications to for this type of deployment is called the
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<code>appBase</code> which is specified per Host. You either copy a
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so-called <i>exploded web application</i>, i.e non-compressed, to this
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location, or a compressed web application resource .WAR file.
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</p>
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<p>
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The web applications present in the location specified by the Host's
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(default Host is "localhost") <code>appBase</code> attribute (default
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appBase is "$CATALINA_BASE/webapps") will be deployed on Tomcat startup
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only if the Host's <code>deployOnStartup</code> attribute is "true".
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</p>
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<p>
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The following deployment sequence will occur on Tomcat startup in that
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case:
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Any Context Descriptors will be deployed first.</li>
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<li>
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Exploded web applications not referenced by any Context
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Descriptor will then be deployed. If they have an associated
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.WAR file in the appBase and it is newer than the exploded web application,
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the exploded directory will be removed and the webapp will be
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redeployed from the .WAR
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</li>
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<li>.WAR files will be deployed</li>
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</ol>
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</section>
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<section name="Deploying on a running Tomcat server">
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<p>
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It is possible to deploy web applications to a running Tomcat server.
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</p>
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<p>
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If the Host <code>autoDeploy</code> attribute is "true", the Host will
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attempt to deploy and update web applications dynamically, as needed,
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for example if a new .WAR is dropped into the <code>appBase</code>.
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For this to work, the Host needs to have background processing
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enabled which is the default configuration.
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</p>
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<p>
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<code>autoDeploy</code> set to "true" and a running Tomcat allows for:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Deployment of .WAR files copied into the Host <code>appBase</code>.</li>
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<li>
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Deployment of exploded web applications which are
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copied into the Host <code>appBase</code>.
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</li>
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<li>
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Re-deployment of a web application which has already been deployed from
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a .WAR when the new .WAR is provided. In this case the exploded
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web application is removed, and the .WAR is expanded again.
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Note that the explosion will not occur if the Host is configured
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so that .WARs are not exploded with a <code>unpackWARs</code>
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attribute set to "false", in which case the web application
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will be simply redeployed as a compressed archive.
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</li>
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<li>
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Re-loading of a web application if the /WEB-INF/web.xml file (or
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any other resource defined as a WatchedResource) is updated.
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</li>
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<li>
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Re-deployment of a web application if the Context Descriptor
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file from which the web application has been deployed is
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updated.
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</li>
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<li>
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Re-deployment of dependent web applications if the global or
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per-host Context Descriptor file used by the web application is
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updated.
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</li>
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<li>
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Re-deployment of a web application if a Context Descriptor file (with a
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filename corresponding to the Context path of the previously deployed
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web application) is added to the
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<code>$CATALINA_BASE/conf/[enginename]/[hostname]/</code>
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directory.
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</li>
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<li>
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Undeployment of a web application if its document base (docBase)
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is deleted. Note that on Windows, this assumes that anti-locking
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features (see Context configuration) are enabled, otherwise it is not
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possible to delete the resources of a running web application.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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Note that web application reloading can also be configured in the loader, in which
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case loaded classes will be tracked for changes.
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</p>
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</section>
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<section name="Deploying using the Tomcat Manager">
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<p>
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The Tomcat Manager is covered in its <a href="manager-howto.html">own manual page</a>.
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</p>
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</section>
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<section name="Deploying using the Client Deployer Package">
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<p>
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Finally, deployment of web application may be achieved using the
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Tomcat Client Deployer. This is a package which can be used to
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validate, compile, compress to .WAR, and deploy web applications to
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production or development Tomcat servers. It should be noted that this feature
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uses the Tomcat Manager and as such the target Tomcat server should be
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running.
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</p>
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<p>
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It is assumed the user will be familiar with Apache Ant for using the TCD.
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Apache Ant is a scripted build tool. The TCD comes pre-packaged with a
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build script to use. Only a modest understanding of Apache Ant is
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required (installation as listed earlier in this page, and familiarity
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with using the operating system command shell and configuring
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environment variables).
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</p>
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<p>
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The TCD includes Ant tasks, the Jasper page compiler for JSP compilation
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before deployment, as well as a task which
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validates the web application Context Descriptor. The validator task (class
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<code>org.apache.catalina.ant.ValidatorTask</code>) allows only one parameter:
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the base path of an exploded web application.
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</p>
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<p>
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The TCD uses an exploded web application as input (see the list of the
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properties used below). A web application that is programmatically
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deployed with the deployer may include a Context Descriptor in
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<code>/META-INF/context.xml</code>.
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</p>
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<p>
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The TCD includes a ready-to-use Ant script, with the following targets:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<code>compile</code> (default): Compile and validate the web
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application. This can be used standalone, and does not need a running
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Tomcat server. The compiled application will only run on the associated
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<em>Tomcat X.Y.Z</em> server release, and is not guaranteed to work
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on another Tomcat release, as the code generated by Jasper depends on its runtime
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component. It should also be noted that this target will also compile
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automatically any Java source file located in the
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<code>/WEB-INF/classes</code> folder of the web application.</li>
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<li>
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<code>deploy</code>: Deploy a web application (compiled or not) to
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a Tomcat server.
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</li>
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<li><code>undeploy</code>: Undeploy a web application</li>
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<li><code>start</code>: Start web application</li>
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<li><code>reload</code>: Reload web application</li>
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<li><code>stop</code>: Stop web application</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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In order for the deployment to be configured, create a file
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called <code>deployer.properties</code> in the TCD installation
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directory root. In this file, add the following name=value pairs per
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line:
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</p>
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<p>
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Additionally, you will need to ensure that a user has been
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setup for the target Tomcat Manager (which TCD uses) otherwise the TCD
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will not authenticate with the Tomcat Manager and the deployment will
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fail. To do this, see the Tomcat Manager page.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<code>build</code>: The build folder used will be, by default,
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<code>${build}/webapp/${path}</code> (<code>${build}</code>, by
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default, points to <code>${basedir}/build</code>). After the end
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of the execution of the <code>compile</code> target, the web
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application .WAR will be located at
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<code>${build}/webapp/${path}.war</code>.
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</li>
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<li>
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<code>webapp</code>: The directory containing the exploded web application
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which will be compiled and validated. By default, the folder is
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<code>myapp</code>.
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</li>
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<li>
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<code>path</code>: Deployed context path of the web application,
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by default <code>/myapp</code>.
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</li>
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<li>
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<code>url</code>: Absolute URL to the Tomcat Manager web application of a
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running Tomcat server, which will be used to deploy and undeploy the
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web application. By default, the deployer will attempt to access
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a Tomcat instance running on localhost, at
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<code>http://localhost:8080/manager/text</code>.
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</li>
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<li>
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<code>username</code>: Tomcat Manager username (user should have a role of
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manager-script)
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</li>
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<li><code>password</code>: Tomcat Manager password.</li>
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</ul>
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</section>
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</body>
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</document>
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